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T O P I C R E V I E W

jonspace

Is this signed by Alan Shepard or is it autopen/reproduction?

moonnut

Looks to me to be a secretarial signature. Go to AstroAutopens and look at the secretarials. The loopless h is usually a tell tale sign.

Steve Zarelli

In my opinion, the Shepard is authentic.

The "loopless" h is only one marker and not consistently reliable. Is the H loopless because Shepard lifted his pen slightly along the trajectory or is it loopless because it was the secretary who shot from the S straight up to the top of the h?

While Shepard's secretaries did a relatively decent job of imitating his signature, there is a distinctly different "feel" between real and secretary. Learn that "feel" and you won't need to use unreliable shortcuts.

This is part of a limited # of these that came out for the 25th Anniversary of Apollo. It's a photo of Alan Shepard, with his hand-signed autograph on the matte around it. It is framed, and at one time it had glass, but the glass has been gone for years. The frame itself (shiny black) is scratched also, but the most important part , the signed matte' with the 25th anniv. logo, is in great shape.

Interestingly, that sale included an Apollo 11 patch where the Apollo 14 patch is seen above (though the seller noted finding an "additional Apollo 14 patch" that was included with the lot).

Steve Zarelli

Good catch, Robert. Can't say with certainty, but I do not think it is the same item. On the version featured in this thread, it appears the beginning stroke of the S extends further to the left than the one on Worthpoint.

moonnut

Thanks Steve for clarifying. I did get that feel, cause the rest of the signature looked good, but that 'h' I've always steered away from. As you said, "while Shepard's secretaries did a relatively decent job of imitating his signature..." and that they did!! I will say that I would take that h in an authentic signature than one of his later chicken scratch signed books, lol. Thanks again Steve!!

jonspace

Thank you for your opinions! I'm starting to feel better about it. It came from an eBay auction (201046271958) that was 100% for charity and I'm also pretty new to collecting. There are a few other auctions that have this kind of layout (gold on black matt) (261222239565) (271213760143) and this one that claims to have JSA authentication (201032536460).

Robert Pearlman

This is why we ask when posting for advice, that you include the source of the item from the start. It would have helped to have the information the eBay lot provides:

1304 out of 2,500. Authorized by the United States Historical Society and the United States Space Camp Foundation.

jonspace

Sorry about that Robert. Rookie mistake.

The seller told me it came to them as a donated item for them to resell to raise money for their organization.

Robert Pearlman

No worries, just illustrating for future reference why it helps to have the "big picture" available.

Steve Zarelli

quote:Originally posted by moonnut:Thanks Steve for clarifying. I did get that feel, cause the rest of the signature looked good, but that 'h' I've always steered away from. As you said, "while Shepard's secretaries did a relatively decent job of imitating his signature..." and that they did!!

My pleasure. In my view, the best way to train your eye is to line up a bunch of known good ones and compare to a line up of known secretarials.

The secretarials almost always have a "stiff" more upright look contrasted to Shepard's looser feel with a right slant. Also, the secretaries tended to carefully form each letter and the letters look spaced out a bit. Shepard is a bit more haphazard and letters tend to be more squeezed together.

The shortcuts like the loopless h and spiked p are somewhat effective. But there are often "tweeners" and knowing the natural look and feel will solve these.

It all adds up to recognizing the difference between a slightly stiff, deliberate imitation versus a loose, flowing natural signature.